Grapefruit Basil — Restaurant in Indian Wells

First of all… I do not want a generic response from management saying give us another try….you had that chance when we were there. The service received made us feel like we were an inconvenience. The service staff is not currently set up to succeed due to management flaws. It always flows from the top down.

I had come to the hotel to check out the resort and was approached by the GM…. He gave me a nice tour of the place and even gave me a couple restaurant menus (brunch and dinner) to take home. I thought with such a nice gesture, it was only right that I come for dinner.

We arrived at the beginning of the dinner service period. We ordered our drinks to start. After a long 15minutes, we finally received them. Three out of the four drinks were not only incorrect, but not even true to the menu. We had ordered a martini with blue cheese stuffed olives and asked specifically if the bar had them…..wrong. The two Pine for More Martinis we’re ordered for the grilled pineapple….not only was there no pineapple in the martinis, they have no grilled pineapple anywhere in the restaurant and that the menu is incorrect. These are not ‘well drinks’ nor is this a regular restaurant. As the GM described to me, this is an upscale experience and the pricing reflects that. We were not receiving an upscale experience. We then set the drinks back and asked for replacements. Again slow response and service.

There was a manager that approached the table (Sergio), and asked if everything was ok. We expressed out concerns and that we were not pleased with our experience thus far. He apologized, and said he had recently been brought in from LA to straighten things out at the restaurant, and appreciated the feedback. He said he would take care of things and make things right for us. He brought out our replacement drinks right away. He was asking if there was anything else he could help us out with blah blah blah.

Anyways, food came out and that was the best part of the evening. Food is very good. Presentation, seasoning, portions. Spot on. Ok, you reeled us back in with the food.

Until……

Time for us to leave, we handed our cards to our server, and asked that the bill be split in half for the two couples. The cards were run, but when the individual check came out, there was not an itemized bill included in either folder. How do you not supply a bill for a dinner that is almost 600$ ? Sergio came back to the table and asked once again if there was an issue because he saw the look on my face. I showed him both folders without the itemized bill. He was frustrated at the lack of attention to detail. The server then came back to the table and basically tossed the itemized bill on the table and gave us a glare. No return on Sergio either. And on top of it all, they even charged for every item. No make up comp to make customers happy. No offer of dessert or coffee. We are not looking for freebies and even tipped 20%+ despite the poor service.

Definitely a disappointing time. The Tommy Bahamas in Palm Desert would never have this lack of care or service. Grapefruit Basil is not a proper representation of the TB brand. I do not think that this place has yet caught up to the hype it is presenting. I would like to go again as the outside courtyard area with all the fireside seating is so beautiful. But, I have little confidence that management is providing the rest of the team with the tools that are needed to provide the upscale experience they are...

I dined at Grapefruit Basil four times this week and four times last year while staying at Tommy Bahama Miramonte during the BNP Paribas tennis tournament. A bonus of dining here during this time is that many of the other patrons are also tennis fans, making it fun to strike up casual conversations. Sometimes, players in the tournament dine here, which makes the experience even more enjoyabl; however, my visits were mainly out of convenience rather than preference, as it's the only on-site dining option. Unfortunately, Grapefruit Basil does not deserve five stars. The food and desserts are inconsistent, and the service is often just fair.

The Good: On the night I arrived, there were no available reservations on OpenTable, but Cecelia (I believe that was her name) went above and beyond to accommodate my party, offering two options for us to dine. Her hospitality was truly appreciated. That evening, Josey was our waitress, and her warm, welcoming energy stood out. Another employee worth recognizing is Dasey, who provided great service during breakfast.

The Not-So-Good: The breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus are relatively small, which I usually consider a positive - fewer dishes done well is better than an overwhelming selection of mediocre options. However, the execution here is inconsistent. Dishes often lack heat, seasoning, or key ingredients. I ordered the same breakfast three days in a row, and it was different each time.

One morning, with only about a quarter of the indoor tables occupied and no one seated outside, guests ahead of me were told to wait 10 minutes. From where we stood, this seemed unnecessary. I observed them being confused about why they had a wait. Since I had a reservation, I was seated immediately, but the service felt chaotic. The waitstaff seemed frantic, even though there were only 9–10 tables occupied. My server, Jorge, even commented, “We’re busy!”—despite the restaurant being half-empty. I understand that in hospitality employees may not come to work and this can cause delays but based on all other observations, I don't think they had a staffing issue - I think they have a lack of organization.

Getting a coffee refill was nearly impossible. Several guests had to wave their hands or stand up just to get their checks. I eventually poured my own coffee refill, and no one even noticed. Once my food was served, no one checked on our table, and I would have loved some salt and pepper for my flavorless eggs.

During my first breakfast reservation, we shared our experience with another waiter who happened to walk by—he carried himself as if he were a lead. We mentioned how difficult it was to get attention, that coffee refills were being neglected, and that other diners were having to wave down staff just to pay their bill. His response was an apology, but he also added “It’s not your fault.” I was appalled—why would it be my fault? The issue was clearly with the restaurant, and that kind of response only made the situation worse.

Final Thoughts: Grapefruit Basil has potential. The atmosphere, especially outside at night, is beautiful. However, someone needs to take charge and establish a consistent standard for both hospitality and food quality. With more leadership and attention to detail, this restaurant could provide an experience worthy of...

During our 4 night stay at the resort, we ate most of our meals at Grapefruit Basil. Jorge was our morning waiter for our first morning and gave us exceptional service. Alicia was our hostess and was one of the nicest people we met at the resort. She treated us like gold! We ate dinner there for our anniversary and again received exceptional service from David.. Our third morning there was as different story. There was only one waitress present. (It was Jorge's day off). We sat at the same table as usual in the corner as we had our licensed service animal with us. The waitress took our order. It seemed to take forever to get our food. It finally came. My husband ordered the pancakes juice and coffee. That was the last time we saw our server or her assistant. They forgot our juice, we had to ask for it. They never came over to ask how our breakfast was. We had to also ask for refills on coffee when were were only able to the the server's attention by tapping on the window. My husband ate a portion of the pancakes although they were terrible, so dry you had to cut them with a knife.. If we had a server who would have stopped by and asked how our meals were, he would have sent them back. But that never happened. The server said she would take my husband's off of the bill. Shortly thereafter, the restaurant manager came over and in a rude tone of voice, said she would only credit us half of his breakfast since he had eaten only a portion of the pancakes. If someone had taken the time to ask us how our breakfast was, he would have sent them back and ordered something else. We love the resort and would like to come back but unless we have a good server and a different manager, we will probably not eat in this restaurant again. It was a horrible experience on our second to last morning...